1959 Leaders & Numbers

For Hank Aaron, 400 was the magic number, flirting with .400 through June and ending the year as the last NL player until 1997 to collect over 400 total bases. Sharp-hitting Harvey Kuenn nabbed his lone batting crown, and barely; Tito Francona (.363) came within 34 plate appearances of qualifying. One side benefit of the Braves’ tiebreaker loss to the Dodgers was that it gave Eddie Mathews the major league home run title by one over Ernie Banks. Vada Pinson played a couple games too many the year before to qualify for the 1959 Rookie of the Year award; otherwise, he would have been a shoo-in. Jackie Jensen did well to emulate his 1958 MVP figures, but the frequent flier mileage was about to get the most of the aviophobic star. Eddie Yost, a walkathon all by himself with his special gift for drawing walks, added a bit of pop with a career-high 21 homers. Lost in the coming firestorm over Rocky Colavito’s imminent departure from Cleveland was the arrival of the Tribe’s next best thing on the mound, Jim Perry. The two pitchers who led their respective leagues in wins during the 1950s—Warren Spahn (202) and Early Wynn (188)—appropriately wound up the decade as, once again, season leaders. Perhaps call Sad Sam Jones Mad Sam, his stellar year made bittersweet with two no-hitters stopped short of nine innings—one by a bad-hop single, the other by rain. Don Mossi and Hoyt Wilhelm, two lifelong relievers, easily proved they could make it as starters; Wilhelm’s ERA title gave him one in each league.

The Ten Best National League Hitters, 1959

Name

Team

G

BA

AB

R

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

IB

HB

SB

CS

GD

1. Hank Aaron

Milwaukee

154

.355

629

116

223

46

7

39

123

34

17

4

8

0

19

2. Willie Mays

San Francisco

151

.313

575

125

180

43

5

34

104

56

9

2

27

4

11

3. Eddie Mathews

Milwaukee

148

.306

594

118

182

16

8

46

114

78

2

3

2

1

6

4. Frank Robinson

Cincinnati

146

.311

540

106

168

31

4

36

125

60

9

8

18

8

16

5. Ernie Banks

Chicago

155

.304

589

97

179

25

6

45

143

44

20

7

2

4

18

6. Vada Pinson

Cincinnati

154

.316

648

131

205

47

9

20

84

52

3

3

21

6

9

7. Orlando Cepeda

San Francisco

151

.317

605

92

192

35

4

27

105

23

10

5

23

9

10

8. Ken Boyer

St. Louis

149

.309

563

86

174

18

5

28

94

60

7

2

12

6

7

9. Wally Moon

Los Angeles

145

.302

543

93

164

26

11

19

74

80

1

3

15

6

9

10. Johnny Temple

Cincinnati

149

.311

598

102

186

35

6

8

67

70

2

2

14

3

11

The Ten Best American League Hitters, 1959

Name

Team

G

BA

AB

R

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

IB

HB

SB

CS

GD

1. Al Kaline

Detroit

136

.327

511

86

167

19

2

27

94

60

12

4

10

4

11

2. Jackie Jensen

Boston

148

.277

535

101

148

31

0

28

112

85

3

0

20

5

20

3. Mickey Mantle

New York

144

.285

541

104

154

23

4

31

75

87

6

2

21

3

7

4. Harvey Kuenn

Detroit

136

.353

561

99

198

42

7

9

71

47

1

1

7

2

6

5. Eddie Yost

Detroit

148

.278

521

115

145

19

0

21

61

134

1

12

9

2

6

6. Harmon Killebrew

Washington

153

.242

546

98

132

20

2

42

105

89

1

7

3

2

12

7. Rocky Colavito

Cleveland

154

.257

588

90

151

24

0

42

111

63

8

2

3

3

13

8. Tito Francona

Cleveland

122

.363

399

68

145

17

2

20

79

32

3

3

2

0

11

9. Minnie Minoso

Cleveland

148

.302

570

92

172

32

0

21

92

52

2

17

8

10

11

10. Pete Runnels

Boston

147

.314

560

95

176

36

6

6

57

94

1

1

6

5

17

The Ten Best National League Pitchers, 1959

Name

Team

ERA

W

L

PCT

SV

G

GS

IP

TB

ER

BB

IB

WP

HB

BK

SB

CS

GD

1. Warren Spahn

Milwaukee

2.96

21

15

.583

0

40

36

292

406

96

62

8

2

1

0

1

2

18

2. Sad Sam Jones

San Francisco

2.83

21

15

.583

4

50

35

270.2

337

85

104

5

5

8

0

10

9

16

3. Johnny Antonelli

San Francisco

3.10

19

10

.655

1

40

38

282

382

97

72

4

1

3

0

3

6

23

4. Vern Law

Pittsburgh

2.98

18

9

.667

0

34

33

266

376

88

42

11

5

2

0

4

1

23

5. Roger Craig

Los Angeles

2.06

11

5

.688

0

29

17

152.1

177

35

42

3

2

1

0

2

4

18

6. Larry Jackson

St. Louis

3.30

14

13

.519

0

40

37

256

358

94

61

3

8

4

0

8

5

22

7. Gene Conley

Philadelphia

3.00

12

7

.632

1

25

22

180

240

60

38

4

3

2

0

9

3

14

8. Lew Burdette

Milwaukee

4.07

21

15

.583

1

41

39

289.2

484

131

35

3

2

1

0

3

6

28

9. Don Drysdale

Los Angeles

3.46

17

13

.567

2

44

36

270.2

363

104

84

9

4

18

2

3

4

16

10. Roy Face

Pittsburgh

2.70

18

1

.947

10

57

0

93.1

118

28

17

8

4

1

0

4

4

8

The Ten Best American League Pitchers, 1959

Name

Team

ERA

W

L

PCT

SV

G

GS

IP

TB

ER

BB

IB

WP

HB

BK

SB

CS

GD

1. Bob Shaw

Chicago

2.69

18

6

.750

3

47

26

230.2

299

69

49

5

3

6

0

5

5

19

2. Hoyt Wilhelm

Baltimore

2.19

15

11

.577

0

32

27

226

244

55

74

3

5

10

0

12

13

27

3. Camilo Pascual

Washington

2.64

17

10

.630

0

32

30

238.2

284

70

62

7

5

3

3

16

5

18

4. Early Wynn

Chicago

3.17

22

10

.688

0

37

37

255.2

297

90

114

5

5

9

0

14

8

18

5. Art Ditmar

New York

2.90

13

9

.591

1

38

25

202

239

65

48

4

0

8

2

3

6

17

6. Jim Perry

Cleveland

2.65

12

10

.545

4

44

13

153

166

45

48

7

2

2

1

2

13

12

7. Whitey Ford

New York

3.04

16

10

.615

1

35

29

204

262

69

84

5

5

1

1

0

6

27

8. Milt Pappas

Baltimore

3.27

15

9

.625

3

33

27

209.1

243

76

73

2

14

4

1

8

5

22

9. Don Mossi

Detroit

3.36

17

9

.654

0

34

30

228

317

85

49

0

2

3

1

4

4

19

10. Jerry Walker

Baltimore

2.92

11

10

.524

4

30

22

182

233

59

43

9

2

3

1

2

5

22

Brown type indicates league leader.
Notes: Walks (BB) do not include intentional walks (IB). For pitchers, caught stealing (CS) also includes pickoffs.How does This Great Game determine the best hitters and pitchers?Find out here.